IN LOVING MEMORY OF REHTAEH ANNE PARSONS

Judge Nancy Spies Rules Intoxicated Men Not Responsible For Rape

As if going to court wasn’t hard enough for victims, Ontario Superior Court Judge Nancy Spies has ruled intoxication is now a defence for rape. The ruling clears the way for anyone accused of sexual assault to simply say they were too drunk to be guilty.

This right on the heels of Nova Scotia Judge Gregory Lenehan’s not guilty verdict after a cab driver was caught by two police officers assaulting an unconscious women and making the grossly inappropriate statement, “Clearly, a drunk can consent.”

In the hallowed halls of Canadian courts, an unconscious women can consent but an drunk man can use intoxication as a defence for rape.

Judge Spies ruling comes in the case of a man who says he voluntarily drank too much and took drugs on the night of the assault he has been charged with. The defendant, Cameron McGraw, doesn’t deny he had “sexual intercourse” with the victim but claims he had not “intended to do so.” Spies wrote in her decision that the law relieves the prosecution from proving the sexual assault was “voluntary.”

Voluntary, like getting shit-faced drunk and driving home kind of voluntary.

This, yet again, is a reminder to victims of sexual assault how stacked the deck is against them when they go to court. If you were drinking, its your fault. If he was drinking, he couldn’t control himself.